I came home with a box!

Posted on 09-12-2009

9Dec

Can you guess what kind of box?

This one to be precise:

You know what that means don’t you? It’s confirmed. It’s definitely happening. I am having a Cochlear Implant!

Surgery date is on 22nd December 2009. Just before Christmas so although I might have a sore head for different reasons this year, at least there will be plenty of people off work to give me a hand with the children and general day to day stuff.

The appointment went really nice. The consultant and his team are fantastic, I cannot fault them at all. I’m absolutely thrilled that it’s going to happen, definitely. But I’m also very nervous, apprehensive and scared too. It’s still a big operation, I’ve never had one before. It’ll mean being away from my children for 2 whole nights, staying in a strange hospital 25 miles from home. It’ll also be the start of a new journey. I’m amazed that it’s taken only 6 months since that first appointment to visit my GP to request for the referral and now we’re here.

I saw my scans on the computer. The consultant said that it was very clear, the sort of scan pictures that he’ll distribute to show students – perhaps, in the words of my marvellous Mum who accompanied me on the day, I shall need to sign a model release form?

My Vestibular Aqueduct is widened – we knew that. It’s still nice to be told though, with a confidence as to why I am deaf. It’s all fine in there, I had my pre-operation assessments, an injection and some swabs taken. Leaflets to pour over once I got home, and a box!

Naturally, we had a “box opening ceremony” (term courtesy of my lovely husband Andy) so would you like to see more?

An impressive piece of kit huh?

I had loads of questions for the consultant. I had been rehearsing them in my head for days. But when it came to it, he was so clear in his explanation of everything that the questions just went. I felt very informed. He’s going to need to shave off a little bit of hair behind my ear (gulp) and there will be an incision made behind my Left ear. That was the other thing – he is happy to do my bad ear! This is fabulous news to me, I feel safe knowing that I have nothing to lose. I feel safe knowing that after the operation, in the meantime until the switch on, I can still use my hearing aid in the Right ear as normal.

So, that’s it for now! No doubt I’ll be posting soon, blogging about what’s to come!